Totally Family [Three Trinities Haven Church]

[Ezekiel]

He watched the three little birds flutter away, then turned his attention to the man beside him. Cruz looked uncomfortable, not necessarily with the relaxed seating arrangements, but perhaps with the reflection he had glimpsed of himself in the mirror. A smile hovered, and Zeke tilted a shoulder. “No apology is necessary,” he said, the unpleasantness of before waved clean away. By his humble return, in this very moment, Cruz was one of them, and Zeke welcomed him like a sheep who had strayed. He shifted his hips to produce a tin from his pocket as his new friend unburdened himself.

“Do you partake?” he asked as he flipped the lid, wafting the distinctive smell of weed. The warm bronze of his gaze looked up for an answer, but he did not seem bothered as to Cruz’s reply. Leaned back comfortably on one elbow, Zeke began to roll himself a new joint. Should Cruz deign to join him, he would pass the first one over.

He knew Esper and Roza had been running rings, as only they could. Zeke never required all the details of their exploits, for they always delivered the required result, and if they enjoyed themselves a little too well sometimes it was no business of Zeke’s. The coin’s images were always going to drive Cruz back here. The game was never done until Ezekiel declared it so.

“You had a taste of something new, and now you want another. Perhaps you have not encountered something you could not easily have before. It is indeed maddening,” he agreed.